Follow-up Investigation at Spookers

The Haunted Auckland group returned to the Spookers building at Kingseat to look further into incidents which had happened on the previous investigation sessions, looking for explanations and to gather more evidence of the paranormal activity in this former psychiatric hospital.

Return Visit to Spookers / Nurses Hostel

7th April 2013

This time our mission was to try to recapture, recreate, debunk or re-experience some of the activity we had experienced before. Team members for this investigation – Mark, Kris, Barbara, Heather and guest, JP.

Weather Conditions on the night were still and fine with a slight chill.

Kris – If I was to compare my feelings between this and the last Kingseat investigation, the latter was more intense feeling. To be honest, I didn’t really “have my feel on”. I feel a bit distracted by the present there, that I don’t really notice the past, if that makes any sense, especially this time around. I felt like I was there documenting.

Found myself drawn to the room of dolls this time. Old dolls. And the downstairs shower block again. We started downstairs in an area which had shown some interesting EMF readings during our second visit. We once again got EMF activity in the same area but this time we were able to elicit intelligent responses from whatever was there. It was able to manipulate the EMF meter to answer questions we asked. We then revisited several other areas of Spookers where we took photos, video, audio recordings and EMF readings. During this visit we also tried using a spirit box but did not have good results from it.

Electronic Voice Phenomena

The following EVPs were captured by our investigator Kris throughout the investigation conducted on 7th March 2013 (may require headphones).

Heather – Going in again gave me a more in-depth feeling of nostalgia and loneliness, knowing more about the place made me feel sad due to what had happened to the people in the past. Still claustrophobic especially upstairs amongst the curtains and cobwebs. We only had a few hours this time, so we concentrated on the rooms that Mark and Barbara had picked up some interesting sounds when they were there with the crew from “The Edge”.

Barbara – I immediately felt that there was something out in the hallway. The others were still in the entrance getting their equipment ready and I walked down the hallway towards the maze and strongly felt that there was something watching me in that area. My audio recorder was already on so I did an EVP session. I called the others over so they could all take photos.

The hallway (towards the maze) felt very eerie. I had a sense of being watched. The downstairs room just before the stairs was definitely the stand-out room for me this time. The session we held there was amazing.

In the downstairs hallway just before the maze I strongly sensed something watching me as I made an initial sweep of the area while the others were preparing their equipment. Also the room at the opposite end of the corridor was very interesting with high and inconsistent EMF readings and apparent responses to our questions. It was during that time I felt like someone had stabbed me with a needle in my thigh! It was very painful! Also in the same area, but a little later, I felt someone touch my arm.

One of the owners told us about his adult son who had been working overnight in one of the rooms upstairs and now refused to stay overnight in the building. The son was found in the early hours of the morning outside the main entrance and had apparently had been there for some hours. He was very scared and would not go back into the building for quite some time. We were also told that there had been at least four deaths in the buildings recent history that he knew of including a nurse who had died in the upstairs bathroom and a man who had committed suicide.

The photo above was taken immediately as Barbara reacted that she was being touched on her right shoulder. She had turned to see what it was. You can see a dark shadow on her right shoulder at that moment. The group were somewhat divided on opinions with this one. One possible explanation being that there was something obscuring the lens at the time. The dark shadow is seen on 2 other photos from that investigation, but not in succession. One, in the bed (room) that Mike Puru previously slept in as part of a radio challenge on The Edge. The other in a stairwell. There are photos separating these photos that don’t show any shadow or possible lens obstruction. This we found odd. We post this here for the reader to form their own decisions.

Spirit Communication Sessions

The team returned to the areas we had experienced activity at the previous investigation sessions to try to recapture, recreate or re-experience some of the activity that had occurred.

This happened again, tenfold.

The team were all witnesses and were all impressed by the accuracy and speed of the apparently replies given to us, via EMF meter connection. As usual we try to keep the questioning and conversations light in topic; asking simple questions like “What is your name?” “Did you work here?”, “Do you enjoy being here?” etc.

We also try to have fun with them as we’ve found in the past that a lighter mood based around friendliness, a light-hearted manner and a caring, sympathetic approach seems to bring in more responses. It’s about letting them know that we mean them no disrespect or harm in being there, that we are there to try to make contact, to learn about them and anyone else that may still reside in the building and to understand their situation and get a feel of what it must have been like in their time.

We try to assure them that we are there to listen to them if they are able, (or want) to talk with us.

Barbara – We recorded the communication session we conducted downstairs. Most of the replies were in the form of making Mark’s EMF meter go off and we seemed to get intelligent responses to our questions. We were told:

– Her name was Alexis Jackson
– She was a nurse
– She died in 1974
– She was 27 years old
– She killed herself
– She died at National Womans Hospital
– She stays in the building to look after the patients who are there.
– She also confirmed how many of us were in the room with her and the sexes of those in the group.

Audio Recording – Interaction with EMF Detector

The below pieces of audio were gathered during our follow-up investigation on 7th April 2013. The beeping noise that can be heard is an EMF Detector with an audio function which gives a series of beeps. The speed of the beeps gives an indication of the strength of the electro-magnetic field. The detector was held stationary while this audio was being captured.

Barbara – I tried my custom-built spirit box for the first time. I don’t think it went that well. There were a couple of possibly muffled words said, but they were too muffled to be definite answers (with the possible exception of a “Yes”).

I will be trying this gadget out again on other investigations to see if I get a better response elsewhere. I also tried out an EMF field generator, custom-made for us, during this investigation. At this stage I cannot say if the pump had any bearing on the results as it was the first time it was used and I have no prior investigations to compare results with.

Heather – We were in one of the downstairs rooms where Barbara tested her Spirit Box. Mark’s EMF meter was going nuts.

Kris picked up the name ‘Russell’ but we didn’t get much more on him. We got a lot more information via EMF communication about a nurse called Alexis Jackson who had worked there but had died at National Women’s Hospital by committing suicide. Her spirit had then returned to Kingseat to look after the patients. She had a partner, though not sure if she was married. She gave birth to a baby, with complications. The baby lived, but we didn’t have enough time to find out more about her.

I’ve not yet been able to locate any further info about her or a ‘Russell’ but will keep digging.

The audio recordings we captured regarding Alexis were amazing. The audio recording has Mark’s EMF meter being used to answer our questions. When we went back to say goodbye to her, she wasn’t there. Instead we seemed to pick up on another entity wanting to communicate. As before this too was recorded on audio recorder.

We were told by one of the Spookers’ owners that his son had stayed in the bedroom at the end of the hall only to come back downstairs as the room had freaked him out and he couldn’t stay in the room any longer. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to explore this room.

Spirit Communication with Ghost Box

The following recording documents communication with an entity via a Ghost Box. The Ghost Box (or Frank’s Box) is a modified radio transceiver which rapidly sweeps through the AM or FM radio spectrum, generating static and noise. It is believed that spirits can use this device to communicate with investigators.

Barbara – In the children’s room upstairs a doll was found on the floor after we had walked through the room. If it had been on the floor when we went through we would have stood on it or fallen over it as it was in the path of where we had just been. We were all certain that we hadn’t knocked anything as we went through so don’t think it was us who caused it to fall.

Also in that same room we later heard something drop to the floor while we were in there but we could not find anything on the floor. The noise was very distinct and we even heard whatever it was bounce but nothing at all could be found. I did a question session upstairs in the children’s room but did not get any responses there.

Heather – We had an interesting time in the nanny’s room. Mark walked in to find a doll lying in the middle of the floor. Both Barb and I had just walked through the room and we would have tripped over it. Well me being the klutz definitely would have landed on it! It was definitely not on the floor when we entered the room.

Kris – I did get a cold spot, in the shower block, accompanied by any other signs, but it felt off, not like a breeze, like suspended. I never got any other associated feelings with it that I would put down to being spiritual. This was in the ‘embalmers table’

J.P (guest) – One moment, when the team was communicating with a ‘spirit’ [Alexis], I was in a hallway by myself. I would say it was very convincing at the time. I’m not 100% sure what an EMF meter does, but it made for great entertainment. A part of me believed, in a sense, that the EMF meter only reacted to certain questions. Some of the answers seemed a little far-fetched or not accurate towards the end, but the earlier part of that session was gold. There was a room in front of me and something moved inside. For some reason I can’t explain, things felt tense.

Mark – Whilst we conducted these communication sessions, I was holding the EMF meter still in my hand, out from my body, away from any potential interference. ie walls, cables, motorised horror props etc.

At one point I asked the ‘entity’ to approach me and touch the meter in my hand. The meter began flashing and beeping as it hit the 2 milligauss mark. Slowly at first, then speeding up till the dial was all the way up to maximum (5 Mg). I then asked it to move away from me. The light and beeping slowed down till it stopped. To confirm I asked it to step back up to me and touch my hand. It did this again, bringing the levels right up to full as before. At this point I felt an icy chill breeze whip across my hand.

This was witnessed by all and at this point in time we have no explanation for it.

Conclusion

Heather – I think it was great to get the chance to go back again and spend more time there. It was an amazing time there, to be able to go a second time and just feel the history all around you. Not to mention the horrible ugly clowns! It made me want to spend more time exploring the grounds and the other buildings besides the Spookers / Nurses Quarters. The excitement of Alexis Jackson communicating to us, I think she was enjoying it as much as we were.

Kris – I think it went awesomely and I think we got a lot of what we wanted. I felt like this time was a footage retrieving mission. We got good stuff on record. Good EMF play, on video and recorder. We had a few EVP sessions, including a couple with a ghost box.

Some interesting results came in. Also, there was an interesting Ghost Box session, where I heard interesting stuff, that made me pay attention, with names coming out and responses when asked. However, it could also be argued that this is radio noise, however, there was relevance to questions asked. More time playing with this will show more on whether this is paranormal or not.

Barbara – I definitely think the building is intelligently haunted. We received good responses to our questions during the communication session downstairs via the EMF meter. Whatever was manipulating the meter was able to communicate to us her name, occupation, age and cause of death!

Also during our second visit I recorded a man’s voice in the children’s room upstairs telling us to “Get Out” and another EVP of a man saying something which was not clear enough to make out what was being said.

It was a good investigation. As we had already been there several times, we knew which areas to focus on so there was no “hit and miss” investigating. Everywhere we went during this final investigation had been places where we had had prior activity. We could have stayed all night! I think we did really well on this one. We worked well as a team!

J.P (guest) – Do I think its haunted? I’m not sure, I guess there were moments I could be convinced. If there is activity it would be minimal giving what the building was used for. Sometimes it’s hard to look past the Coca-Cola signage and scary monster thing on the roof, to try to take it seriously.

Mark – I feel that the building itself might harbour some energy left behind from its dark past. There were certainly rooms that would feel much different to the one right next door to it. The air would feel heavy in some and not others in close vicinity. Rooms would go from warm to icy cold as they went down a hallway. There didn’t seem to be any reason for this to be happening.

There was hardly any power turned on in the upstairs areas. In fact we requested that the power be turned off for our sessions to eliminate any electrical interference. Most of the wall power sockets I tried didn’t work.

EMF-wise, there were certain rooms and hallways where we would experience fluctuating EMF field levels. These were able to be measured and seemed to be approx a foot or two in diameter. A moving ball of energy. We experienced a few of these during our sessions.

I was also quite surprised by the apparent ‘communication’ responses we seemed to be receiving during some of our sessions. One area we were able to revisit on the final session and re-experience the activity again. Same place, same activity. Small energy fields moving around the room and able to be tracked with an EMF meter. Whatever these were they were able to seemingly answer our questions to great accuracy and timing. Whether the moving energy anomaly was connected to whatever was ‘communicating’ with us, I don’t know. It was all too much to be just random coincidence.

I went back on the final return session determined to debunk all that had happened on the previous sessions. To me, a Haunted House Horror attraction, that is actually haunted by ghosts, seemed a bit too convenient. At this point, I’m still getting my head around all the things we experienced in those sessions. Fluctuating energy levels could be many things. There are many possible sources of readings. An important one is, of course, electrical equipment and wiring, even if it is not obviously visible. Electrical cables may be in walls, ceilings or under floors. The fields these cables produce may vary a lot depending on electrical loads from equipment that might be some distance away and not visible to investigators. Electromagnetic fields can also be attributed to the Earth’s naturally created geomagnetic fields. Humans also emit a small field of energy.

Whilst all these could be used as argument by sceptics as to what caused the ongoing seemingly ‘intelligent’ and rather precise communications we seemed to be experiencing, I personally do not feel they fit the experiences we had. The replies were bang-on responsive to the questions. The answers were all relevant to the questions asked. When confirmation of each answer was asked for, the confirmation reply was immediate. Even down to the smaller detailed questioning like ‘How many fingers am I holding up?’ And ‘How many men are there in the room?’, ‘How many women are in the room?’ All accurately answered and confirmed, sometimes a second time to be sure.

While I’m not usually one to jump up and yell ‘haunted’, the physical actions that we experienced and all witnessed, count for a lot. The possibility of the building being home to much residual energy left over from some pretty nasty and dark times, the interactive moments have me leaning towards something a bit more ‘intelligent’. Unless there was some incredible coincidental activity happening on the days we chose to investigate, I’m stumped to find answers to the activity that impressed me at the time.

The team would like to thank the Spookers’ management whole heartedly, for allowing us into their building to investigate the surroundings and for giving us the freedom to explore the entire building from end to end in the time needed.

It was a huge research project which took many hours to complete.

At the end of it all we seem to have more questions than we started with, but are thrilled that we were able to spend time and experience for ourselves some of the stories we have heard, to draw our own conclusions.

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Author: Mark Wallbank

Paranormal Investigator and Founder of Haunted Auckland. I have been a mad researcher of everything Paranormal, Extraterrestrial and Crypto-zoological, since early childhood.
When not creating electronic music, watching Horror movies and documentaries, archiving and documenting NZ’s diverse and eclectic music history, I have spent countless hours investigating and furthering my research out in the field, either as part of a group or solo, since the early 80′s.
I’ve spent much time in opportunistic investigations whilst travelling around New Zealand and Internationally.

4 Comments

surely records must have been checked to see if alexis jackson was a nurse there?not that i doubt the existence of ghosts as i have seen plenty enough myself.they usually trying to tell me something.seems like mischief but they almost always have a message of some kind.

am currently living at villa 3 wiseguys at kingseat.there were reports of activity upstairs and when all but 1 or 2 upstairs residents moved to villa 4 recently the activity moved downstairs.several of us in my room heard footsteps in the hallway right to my door but there was noone there.bout two days later the same thing when i was standing at the toilet.i heard the footsteps as plain as day,turned expecting to see someone right in the doorway but again nothing.no ifs buts or maybes about it.i think whoever it was was just checking out what everyone was up to and probably was lonely or bored upstairs by itself.i have also seen undeniable evidence of ghosts or spiritual phenomena in the past but dont really delve into it intentionally as i do believe there are curses involved with doing such things without genuine reason.from my experience they usually have a message of some kind or show up for some reason.they dont worry me in the slightest as i have a connection to the great spirit or god whatever you want to call it.the power of collective energy has been scientifically proven to be able to manipulate the laws of physics which is proof of the power of prayer among other things.mankind is just so distracted and lost.